After sitting through a trial that lasted nearly three weeks with testimony from about 20 people, a jury began Wednesday evening deciding the fate of Rev. Robert Couture.

The former pastor of Ste. Anne Parish in Tecumseh is charged with theft over $5,000. He is accused of stealing between $170,000 and $234,000 from the church from 2002 to 2010.

Couture allegedly pilfered money from collection plates, a bank account he set up in the church’s name and donations from funerals, weddings and baptisms. The prosecution said Couture required fees for doing services then pocketed the money.

The trial began Nov. 23 with jury selection. That jury of three women and nine men retired to deliberate shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday, after Superior Court Justice Scott Campbell spent nearly two hours giving them instructions. He reviewed the evidence, discussed the rules of law and gave jurors the parameters of their job. The jury failed to reach a verdict late Wednesday.

The jury will resume deliberation at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the defence and prosecution gave their closing arguments.

Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme reminded the jury there has to be evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

“That’s a high standard,” he said.

Ducharme stressed his client is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Couture didn’t have to testify, said Ducharme, but he did.

“He chose to testify, put himself on the witness stand, subjected himself to scrutiny,” said Ducharme.

He said Couture’s defence is “straightforward.”

“He says to you ‘I did not steal any money from Ste. Anne’s Parish,” Ducharme told the jury. “He says the money that belonged to the parish went to the parish.”

One of the issues Ducharme addressed was an unauthorized TD bank account Couture set up in the church’s name.

Ducharme said Couture did the same thing for 7 ½ years at St. Patrick’s church in London, and went through two audits there. There was never an issue, he said. There were also audits at Ste. Anne.

“There was not a word about this,” said Ducharme.

He said Couture used that account to make it easier to pay other priests and help the needy by protecting the identity of both people who donated to charity and those who received it.

Ducharme said Couture never forced people to give him fees or donations, he simply accepted gifts that were offered.

“The intention of the donor is ‘here Father, thank-you for doing this,’” said Ducharme.

Assistant Crown attorney Tom Meehan painted a different picture. He said Couture “systematically abused his position.”

“It is an unhappy and demoralizing story about the abuse of power people should have had trust in and did have trust,” said Meehan.

He said Couture “monetized Ste. Anne to perfection.” Instead of a place of worship, said Meehan, Couture turned the church into a “religion factory” requiring fees and donations for services that he pocketed.

“If I make you give me a present, it’s not a present.”

Couture did it all out of a sense of entitlement, said Meehan.

“He spent the vast majority of the money on himself, apparently because he was the hardest-working priest in the diocese,” he said.

He said Couture “brazenly and without authority” set up the TD account.

Meehan said the only evidence there is that Couture used the account to help the needy is his “say-so.”

“He treated the money that came into the church as his,” said Meehan.

He said Couture preyed on peoples’ trust. Even with abuse scandals and cynicism in 2015, said Meehan, “there is still enough of a reservoir of confidence in people.”

Meehan added that most of the money Couture is accused of stealing was cash and taken over time, making it hard to trace.

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